Sorry I've been errant, a very truant, I daresay, with this assignment for the last month. I've been trying my hand at buying a cheap foreclosure with the idea of selling my townhome near here for a profit, thereby eliminating my small but bothersome mortgage. BOY, they make those foreclosures hard to buy! The banks have them, but it appears they actually covet the darn things! Navigating through the websites for HUD, Fannie Mae and VA were actually more frustrating than going through Houston Area Realtors website (www.har.com), and that's fussy enough! Out of the dozens and dozens of foreclosed townhomes I viewed, only two had been well kept by their former owners. When people lose their homes, they will very often trash them on their exit: a shame, but so is the whole mortgage debacle.

Having managed to get my certification in Speech, I am now brushing up on my elocution skills, and students will have to encounter another technological glitch in learning Speech. Working in front of a mirror is very good practice, but recording your own voice onto a cassette was a lot easier than the recording options students - and teachers - have in our classrooms for the same purpose today. You haven't LIVED until you've heard yourself speak at length on a recording: You won't recognize yourself. Almost everyone is APPALLED the first time they hear their own speaking voice. But it certainly teaches you to practice, and experiment widely, to change what you don't like about your sound. I'm not sure what medium I'll use for voice recording for Speech only this fall. And once again, any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

1 comment:

On your foreclosures observation: It is true. I have been seeing homes in the NW Houston area for as low as $36/s.f. However, when I visited them, I saw broken glasses in the family room (I wonder is the listing realtor so lazy they cannot bring a broom to sweep them), leaking ceilings, missing fixtures, etc.

I guess it is true, you get what you pay for....

We are still in the beginning stages of this 'crisis' (I think) and, not only there will be a better selection of foreclosures coming, but the -expected- rise in the interest rates will -for better or worse- bring affordability and new home prices further down too.